Social work is broad discipline, incorporating a wide range of different perspectives and theories such as sociology, psychology, social anthropology, political sciences and others. Theories drawn from these disciplines are important for the development of social work theory and practice, offering heterogeneous interpretative framework for social work theory building. They are ranging from micro, individually based approaches dealing with the questions of interaction, communication, or networks between individuals, towards macro approaches focusing on power relationships and social change by and for individuals, groups and communities and within social agencies (Staub-Bernasconi 2009).
Communication is important aspect of community organizing for social change, defined as the process through which a group of individuals orchestrate their skills, resources, and human potential to gain control of their future (Papa, Singhal and Papa 2006) and social marketing concepts are seen as a useful way of communicating social change. Social marketing theory and practice could contribute not only to community organizing processes, but also to transdisciplinary explanatory base of social work, since it draws itself from various theoretical fields similar to those used in social work, but is on practical level used in social communication campaigning, social advertising, public relations, market research and it also can be found in social activism (Demšar PeÄak 2004). This paper will address the possible benefits and constraints of social marketing for social work theory and practice.